Baldwin stepped down to the front walk and shrugged at his partner, then pointed to the back. Murray nodded, then joined his partner.
"Hey, Bobby! Look!" Billy had moved a stained linen curtain aside to peer down at the street, and immediately spotted the patrol car.
"Time to load up," Bobby said.
"If they come here, this is it," Billy said, hurrying for the weapons. In his drug addled brain it occurred to him that some poor slug of a pizza delivery boy was going to live to see another day.
Officers Baldwin and Murray circled the house, peering in every window, trying the back door. They detected no signs of life. Before requesting permission to break a pane, Officer Murrray had an idea. "Why don't we check the neighbors, first. Maybe he's staying with somebody."
"You mean you think h
